One of the Founder Of Markhor Has Just Been Listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List

Remember Markhor, the Pakistani startup company founded by Waqas Ali and Sidra Qasim that started off with the idea of eliminating mass production of shoes in favor of handcrafted shoes made through hours of tough labor and attention?

One of its co-founders, Waqas Ali has just been listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia Retail & E-commerce List. The Forbes 30 under 30 list of retail and e-commerce is an annual list of entrepreneurs from Asia that helped reinvent the way people shop online and off. Each year, a number of honorees from different countries are selected and judged via voting by ’30 legends of their fields’ in business.

Forbes is an extremely well known America business magazine since 1917 that is published weekly. The magazine publishes articles on finance industry as well as on investing and marketing topics. But it is well known for its lists and rankings it publishes yearly. Some of their most popular lists include Richest Americans, rankings of world’s top companies and The World’s Billionaires list.

This year 300 such honorees were selected for the list and 30 were chosen. Waqas Ali was one of them. Waqas Ali was the only one chosen for the list because Sidra Qasim was a few months older than the 30 years age limit.

More About Markhor

Markhor was founded by Sidra Qasim and Waqas Ali when they met with a group of craftsmen in a workshop in their home village of Okara. Everything in the workshops there was being handcrafted to perfection. That’s when both of them learned that many big luxury brands were working with craftsmen such as those from countries like India, Pakistan, and Vietnam but barely anyone revealed about them.

To give the craftsman their due credit, Markhor was born. The duo launched a Kickstarter campaign which was successfully funded. Markhor produces designer-quality luxury shoes starting at just $199. All of these are handcrafted by craftsmen in Pakistan. Their shoes can be bought from their official online store.

Markhor’s New Product Line

The company is now planning to extend their product line by adding hand made Apple Accessories.

With Waqas Ali making it to Forbes list of 30 under 30 entrepreneurs, it is a proud moment for Pakistan. Let’s hope this new culture of entrepreneurs & start-ups help more Pakistani’s find a place in that list next year!